“In These Days…”
Luke 2:1-20
Our Christmas story is placed in a particular time in history, and it begins with the words, “In those days…”
“In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world.
(This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.)
And everyone went to his own town to register.”
“In those days…”
Our story begins in the old time, chronological time, time shaped by the powers that be.
The emperor reigns.
Time is tracked by who is in power.
“Quirinius was governor of Syria.”
How will the times we are living in right now be tracked or remembered?
I mean, when we think back on the early 2000’s many of us might think of 9-11, and all that happened that day, and all the things that are different today as a result of that horrible event.
Remember when there were no security check-points in airports?
Remember when everyone, even well-wishers and people waiting for the arrival of old friends, could gather at the airport gates?
Remember when there were no security checks when you entered a football, basketball or baseball stadium?
Remember how much, seemingly, less fear we lived with?
Or, how about the Columbine high school massacre?
That was in 1999.
“In those days…”
Or when I was a kid, adults used to talk about “where they were” when President Kennedy was shot.
Where they were, what they were doing, in those days…when a new fear entered our world and knowledge base.
In any event, I’d imagine that the year 2020 will easily be remembered as the year of the pandemic.
The year that people had to wear masks when in proximity of other human beings.
The year when so many grandparents haven’t been able to hold their grandchildren.
The year when as many people as died on 9-11 have been dying every day.
The year when students had to go to school online.
The year when we worshiped in Red Bank City Park because it was dangerous to worship in the sanctuary.
It’s also a time when every day kind of seems the same.
Those are the days we are still living in.
And yet, there is something else isn’t there?
There are different kinds of time.
The Greek language has a couple of words that mean "time."
The first is the most familiar to us—it is called chronos.
It means the chronology of days, governed by the carefully calculated earths' sweep around the sun.
And, God Himself ordained this measurement of days on the fourth day of Creation, spinning the heavenly lights "for seasons, and for days and years."
But another word for time is also used in the New Testament—kairos.
This speaks more to specific, God-ordained times throughout history, sometimes called the "right time" or "appointed season.”
Kairos is God's dimension—one not marked by the past, the present, or the future.
When Jesus came, it was a fulfillment of promises past, a cosmic collision of the sacred and secular.
It was an intersection of the holy will of God and the stubborn ways of humankind.
This godly kairos pierced its way into creation at just the right time, slicing through chronos with a cry of a baby in a manger.
This new time is not remembered by the drudgery of “business as usual” or the threat of imperial power, or a terrorist attack or even a pandemic.
It’s a new time that challenges “In those days” time or Chronos time.
There is a new Savior, which is a title formerly kept for the emperor.
There is a new Messiah.
There is a new Lord, who will inaugurate a new reign.
And this new reign is signaled by its announcement to lowly shepherds rather than to those in powerful places.
On Christmas Eve we look at a story that begins with a threatening decree of Emperor Augustus and ends with a joyful proclamation and praise of shepherds.
We look at a story that begins with people living in fear and ends with people living in the freedom and joy of the announcement from the Angel of the Lord who said, “Do not be afraid.
I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.”
And this proclamation of “Do not be afraid,” is repeated by the angels over and over again.
It is also used by Jesus so many times throughout the Gospels.
“Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid” Jesus tells His disciples as He moves toward them walking on the water.
“Don’t be afraid” Jesus tells Peter, James and John on the Mount of Transfiguration.
“Do not be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows,” Jesus tells His disciples.
And again, “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom.”
“Do not be afraid. Just believe.”
“Do not be afraid” the Resurrected Christ told the two Mary’s on Easter morning.
As Christians, we live-in two time zones, shall we say.
We live in the Chronos time of the pandemic, of racial upheaval and political unrest, the time of the world…
…where there is aging and there is death.
But we also live in the Kairos time, where there is no more death, or mourning or crying or fear.
And, I think, one of the keys to happiness, and maybe something we can seek to learn to live into this Christmas and into eternity is to keep our eyes set on Kairos time.
It’s the time of the in-breaking of God.
It is a time when we are able to peak around the corner at eternity and see what God is up to.
It is living in God’s Time.
“In those days…a decree went out…”
And fear arose in the hearts of many.
And everyone went to their own town to register for the census…
…including a young couple, a woman about to give birth to a baby.
They were living in Chronos time but they were also living in Kairos time.
For Mary had been visited by the Angel Gabriel who said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary you have found favor with God.
You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus…he will reign…forever; his kingdom will never end.”
And she had believed him.
And an angel had appeared to Joseph as well saying, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.
She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”
And Joseph believed this.
And he lived into God’s time—Kairos time in the midst of the Chronos time of terror and fear.
“Do not be afraid, Do not be afraid.”
These are God’s eternal in-breaking Words to human-kind now and forever, for you and for me:
“Do not be afraid. Just believe.”
Yes, this is the time of the pandemic, but it is also the time that our Savior has been born.
Yes, this is the time of sickness and death but it is also the time when the Kingdom of God has come to earth…
…when God has taken on flesh and become one of us.
When Jesus, Who died our death and lives forevermore, came into this world.
Remember, what Jesus said before He was taken off to be crucified?
“In this world you will have trouble, but do not be afraid, I have overcome the world.”
May it be so with you; may it be so with me.
Praise God.
Merry Christmas.
Amen.
